Plymouth police look to add K-9 unit

The Plymouth Police Department announced Tuesday it is launching a fundraising campaign to add a K-9 unit to the department.

The unit would be funded completely by donations with an initial goal of raising $60,000 and annual upkeep cost of $1,750, according to the press release.

“Throughout the state of Wisconsin, there has been an increase in drug-related crimes and, particularly disturbing, a steady increase in the use of heroin,” the press release said. “The City of Plymouth is not immune from these problems, and our officers have seen firsthand the overdoses and deaths that heroin and other drugs cause in our community. The addition of a K-9 unit would be a welcome tool to assist our officers in our effort to combat this growing trend.”

Plymouth Police Chief Jeffrey Tauscheck said “the predominant tool for law enforcement in the detection of illegal drugs is a canine unit.”

In the press release, police noted that there currently are six heroin death prosecutions pending in Sheboygan County Circuit Court whereas the first such case occurred just four years ago. In 2014, there were 94 drug search warrants issued, 34 of which were heroin-related.

A K-9 unit would be on day to day patrol with its handler and accessible for traffic stops, available for educational purposes to local schools and civic groups, and it would fill the requests of local schools for canine searches throughout the school year. Canines can search a building in a fraction of the time it would take an officer.

The Sheboygan County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Group (MEG) unit utilizes a K-9 unit on many occasions and supports the addition of another K-9 in the county. K-9’s are used most often on traffic stops to indicate if a vehicle may be transporting heroin, cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and other narcotic drugs.

Chief Mike Meeusen of the Elkhart Lake Police Department said: “This will be a good addition to the law enforcement community. The western portion of Sheboygan County will benefit from this K-9 patrol.”

The first three corporate donations of $10,000 or more will receive recognition prominently displayed on the new K-9 squad. Donations are tax deductible.

For more information, call Chief Tauscheck at (920) 893-6541 or go online to www.plymouthgov.com/police,on Facebook at facebook.com/PlymouthPoliceDepartment, Donations also can be made at www.gofundme.com/PlymouthK9.